The softening of the soil and the consequent release of nutrients is likely to encourage the growth of shrubs on land that is now dominated by grass, moss and lichens.

ECONOMIST: Global warming and the permafrost

The moors that winter were often under a crust of snow not enough to blanket them in white, but a mean, dirty frosting on the hard earth and wilted shrubs.

NEWYORKER: She��s the One

The Pit lurks behind high, unkempt shrubs, the only thing on a block of vacant lots, like a last tooth.

NPR: Excerpt: 'Citizen Vince'

They must scale the near-vertical base by climbing rocks and tree roots like ladders -- or take a longer switchback trail -- and then begin an arduous hike uphill, sliding on mud and grasping at alders and shrubs to pull themselves up.

BBC: An Alaskan-style Fourth of July

Shrubs should also be removed, while a limit should be placed on crops expanding further into the bird's range.

BBC: African lark soon to be extinct

As I traipsed on, I found myself gaping at thousands of those same flowers drooping gracefully from the hundreds of shrubs that lined the entire slope.

BBC: Hunting the blue Yeti of Bhutan